I miss the Thursday morning run

SWIM: 2500y in about 50 mins
RUN: 4.3 miles in 45 mins, walk 0.1mi then run 0.9mi, treadmill

My alarm goes off at the same time--4:45am--but I either sleep in a little while or get up and just wander the kitchen with my coffee. It's so aimless, so unlike me, and makes me so unhappy.

Without a definite plan, I just get wander-y. I leave the house later than I usually would, eat a bigger breakfast than normal, and lose momentum.

And I just feel like I'm not working hard enough.

The swim was from my new stack of blue Swim Workout Cards copied from my 2010 training plan. If I go to the pool without a workout then I don't workout. I'll get bored and quit. Today's plan was a total of 2400y with 2x800 sets at 75%. The first set was a pull, the second was a swim with the last 400 being an 85% swim.

The first 800 was a 15:40. The second was 8:10 for the first 400 and 8:05 for the second 400. Not bad! These were not at race pace.

I met a guy at the pool as I was leaving who knows a fellow club member (DH) and who swims 6x/week and does 5K OWS races! No wetsuit, no fueling, awesome! Something I'd like to try someday. We had a great conversation about swimming. He encouraged me to continue learning flip turns because it makes it harder--the need for breath control adds a challenge.

I did the run soon after the swim on treadmill #3, surrounded by other walkers and silver streakers. I was the only one running. And I wasn't supposed to be running, haha!!  I ran without socks so I could feel my toes in the shoes, to see what toes I was using when I did a toe-off. I didn't so much try to change my running form as I was just trying to be aware of it and try sublte changes every now and then. Now that I'm aware of the crooked toe-off, I think I can feel it but a video analysis is needed to be sure.

The ankle felt great. My left knee however is still bothering me, ever since that elliptical session 2 weeks ago. Was it the elliptical? The change in bike mileage? The lack of running? Related to the ankle injury? Muscle imbalance? What I thought would wear off after a few days persists. Strangely, it felt great after the run as if the run healed it!!